(x, why?) Mini: Long Division

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)
(C)Copyright 2016, C. Burke.

Maybe not so much as a conversation as a response to a mini-rant.

I made a note at that point to turn this into a comic. I recently just found that note. Thankfully, I was able to find the original tweets in question.

Many teachers of younger grades are frustrated with long division. It's not easy to teach, and it seems to be an outdated skill since we have calculators. (That said, I've used that skill in Algebra 2 classes with dividing polynomials, which has become more difficult because many of them haven't done long division by hand in five or more years!)

This particular rant (meant to be humorous, from the start) came from Doug Robertson, author of He's the Weird Teacher and The Teaching Text (You're Welcome)

The response was purely me.

For the doubters, here are the tweets in question.




Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

My Plans As An Educator in 2016? Seriously?

What are my plans as an educator in 2016?

Well, my first victory is to acknowledge to myself that I am, in fact, an educator. Sometimes I forget that. Sometimes I remember that but it doesn't really seem like that. Sometimes it seems like outside forces are acknowledging it only to try to counter that reality.

No, I know I am a Teacher, and that isn't going to change any time soon.

But plans? What's the expression about "a battle plan is only good until . . . " No, I do not see my students, any of them, as "the enemy", even if some are openly hostile to me or to learning in general. But many grand plans -- especially those coming from boring PD -- seem to crash and burn when they hit the classroom. Maybe the resources weren't there or in working order. Maybe the backup wasn't what it should've been. Maybe the response wasn't what was expected.

And for every plan, you need 30 (individual) contingencies and another few backups, in case of snafus.

(Not the way I thought I'd start the blog in the New Year, but then I didn't think I'd end the old year by throwing out my back, helping someone, so bear with me.)

I admire the people I follow online who can make grand plans. For a better part of the last couple of years, I assured them I would model some of their suggestions should I ever have a permanent classroom again. (I've been floating around the system for a couple of years.) Well, I finally got a classroom, and the challenges I face are substantial -- and unmatched by any of my current online peers. Should I look for new Twitter chats? I doubt the teachers facing what I do have time for them.

As it is, I've cut back on the one or two education-based chats that used to participate in weekly -- back when I didn't have papers to grade, parents to call, anecdotals to write, online systems to update. Email is a wonderful tool -- I wish the parents used it in connection with their child's educational welfare.

I plan One Day at a Time. Whenever I plan too far ahead, I have to alter those plans and most of the effort has been wasted.

I might have a goal, but I've seen so many plans crash and burn that I've been sticking to things that work. Try something new? Sure, I'll try to sneak things in, and gauge the reaction and effectiveness.

But first I have to get over the feeling that I'd prefer to "float around the system" again. I don't hate being in the classroom. But I'm close to saying I hate being in some classrooms.

Okay, end of rant. I'll try to be more positive tomorrow. Or maybe next week.

"I Am Providence"

I drove to Providence, RI this past weekend to visit Brown University. While I was there, I took a site trip to the cemetery when I found out who was there.

Earlier Rant has been pushed down a bit.

The inscription reads "I AM PROVIDENCE"
H. P. Lovecraft resides in a plot right behind the Phillips family monument. So in my circle of friends, I've probably read the least amount of his works, but I'm the only one to have paid him a visit. Geek Cred.


My earlier Rant continues below. I could add that editing this text box has been almost as big a hassle as loading and copying the image. But I won't.

okay. This is now a Rant. I hate the new iOS on my iPad which will no longer allow me to upload from my camera roll. I just spent 20 minutes, and most of that was waiting for it to load images that are already online at blogger. And worse than that, there is no option for my iPad, just for my phone -- but this isn't a phone! And the iOS should know that it isn't. If I click on the phone option, it find one video and ignores literally 100s of images.

So you'll have to wait until I find a PC or a laptop to show you the gravesite marker of H.P. Lovecraft. Maybe there's some unspeakable horror preventing the image from uploading. Yeah, let's go with that!

until later.

Hitting the Pools?

I don't accept advertising here, and I generally delete posts which are here solely for the purpose of hawking their stuff without contributing in any way to the discussions over here. On the other hand, I've been known to rant on occasion (and more often than that if you've ever met me in person!), so I thought I'd say something nice for a change, free of charge.

If you're looking for pool supplies in Brooklyn, head on over to Best Quality Pools on McDonald Ave, in the Gravesend section. Not only do they have what you need, but they're friendly about it. And unlike some other place in Brooklyn -- which I won't name because I don't want more mail from their legal representatives in New Jersey -- the folks at Best Quality Pools won't refer you to their legal representatives in New Jersey if you say something they don't like.

But, hey, what's not to like?

One Thing Worse Than . . .

Today we start a new feature here at (x, why?) called One Thing Worse Than . . . because it is better to take out our frustrations with our keyboards on the Internet than to use a baseball bat on an object such as a vending machine or a skull.

There are many of life's little annoyances that can be tolerated to some degree, but every so often something happens that's just a little worse, something that takes the situation just a little more out of your control.

Feel free to guess which of these happened this morning, and feel free to join in with your own as well.

You know what's one thing worse than having a vending machine repeatedly spitting out your dollar?
Standing behind a guy whose dollar is being repeatedly spit out by the machine.

You know what's one thing worse than being stuck behind a garbage truck?
Being stuck behind a guy who has plenty of room to pass that garbage truck but just won't do it.

Okay, I feel a little better.
Back to the cartoons tomorrow.

Rant: CVS Pharmacy Management

Sorry to hijack the blog, but I had to get something off my chest.

Question: If you managed a CVS store, wouldn't you want to have someone who knew something about photography working behind your photo counter? And if you were the manager, wouldn't you want to know something about the competition in your neighborhood, especially if you were trying to attract customers to your store?

Apparently, the answers to both these questions is Not Particularly.

Let me paint you a picture: I brought about 20 4 X 6 photos of family members to CVS to have copies made. I returned a few hours later to retrieve them and that's when the fun began. And by "fun" I, of course, mean "nerve-shaking frustration".

I was told by the young man who worked at the photo department that he couldn't make copies of some of the pictures. My first thought was that something had happened to the photos. But no! The truth was far stranger.

He then told me that some of the photos were copyrighted and could not be reprinted. Hello??? These were photos of my family, taken by me or members of my family. What was he talking about?

The worker flipped over the photos and showed me that some of them said:
Genovese
Protected by 3M Scotchguard

(and a date from 1995)

"Um, excuse me. That's not a copyright. That's a notice from the store where the photos were printed."

He protested, "No, it says that these photos are protected."

Okay, so maybe a teenager making minimum wage (or close to it), who may never have seen a real roll of film or negative in his life, doesn't know the difference between protecting an image and protecting a piece of paper with a pretty picture of a little girl and her mother on it.

After a back and forth, he finally went to ask his manager (which I would've insisted on sooner or later anyway). After a moment, the manager SHOOK HIS HEAD IN AGREEMENT!!

The manager told me that the pictures were protected and there was nothing that he could do. He even admitted that he had know idea what "Genovese" nor "Scotchguard" were, but he knew that 3M was "protecting" that picture. By the way, the store does sell 3M Scotch Tape and other items.

I told him that "Genovese" was the former name of his competition. It was the drugstore two blocks away that was bought out by Rite-Aid, and, eventually, when I was exhausted and after he started taking an attitude with me, the customer, that's exactly where I wound up to make the copies. They cost a little more, but they made them without a problem.

I believe the copies are even protected by Scotchguard.